The invention relates to collectors for use in medical suction lines for collecting specimens from the body for analysis. Such collectors are used during surgery as well as during cytological procedures. It has previously been common to collect a volume of fluid from the body and to separate the suspended tissue particles or cells at a later stage, in the laboratory. This method entails a risk of loss of the specimen by spillage during collection and subsequent handling and imposes a limit in the quantity of particles collected in cases where the volume of fluid containing the particles exceeds the volume of the collector. The laboratory separation step also has drawbacks because of personnel time, equipment and space required. Another prior approach has employed a flow-through filter upon which the particles of interest are deposited during collection. Such specimens can be dried and damaged due to absence of liquid for a period, for instance where the laboratory is busy or where for other reasons some period of delay occurs between collection and analysis. Prior techniques have generally also required close proximity between sites of collection and analysis.
For the reasons mentioned, any proposal to overcome these problems needs to avoid being complicated, expensive or cumbersome to use, should preserve sterility and should avoid damage to the particles of interest.